


this oasis now belongs to both of us

by vaahtokarkki



Series: Requests etc [2]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, based on the 1001 nights kaoru and palace of the ocean kanata cards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 06:19:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18255491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaahtokarkki/pseuds/vaahtokarkki
Summary: A thief on the run steals a magical object that leads him to an even more magical person.





	this oasis now belongs to both of us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cynosure_coffee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cynosure_coffee/gifts).



> this is a charity commission (no monetary profit for myself) for dita, who wanted oasis AU kaokana! kaoru is wearing the clothes from the 1001 nights gacha, and kanata is wearing the clothes from the palace of the ocean gacha. I hope you like this!!
> 
> (being an AU, I hope nothing seems out of place about the setting)

In hindsight, stealing from the palace was probably a bad idea to begin with.

It starts smoothly enough, with no trouble getting _into_ the palace. Kaoru even gets his hands on a crude map of the building, and while there’s no treasure rooms marked on it, Kaoru can infer the placement of such a room.

With no one knowing Kaoru entered, there’s no one to notice him sneaking about the palace, and he encounters no problems in finding a small room with various artifacts inside it.

No, the problem is, someone put an enchantment on the room, and Kaoru triggers the alarm spell simply by walking in through the door.

And that? That is bad news, which he finds out when he tries to _leave_ the palace.

_That_ leads to ten guards chasing after him while he clutches to his chest the object he was sent to steal; an unnaturally large pearl, which would be beautiful if it wasn’t terribly dim, the surface of it oddly dull and murky.

One or two Kaoru could take in a fight, but ten is pushing the limit by far too many, and they manage to cut off all the exits on the ground floor. He has to make another bad decision, which is fleeing upstairs -- which will not lead to any good, but it’s the only way he has left.

That way takes him to the rooftop, which is too high to jump down from, even for him. A complete dead end, and Kaoru swirls around to face the guards, weighing his last options.

Even if he were to surrender, he would end up losing his head. Would it be possible to trick them in some way? Maybe by exposing the person who hired him to steal that -- that dull pearl.

Kaoru looks at it now, wondering if it used to be prettier. It looks useless like this, which should mean…

Ah. If an object is well-guarded but seems to have no value, that usually means one of two things. Either the value is purely sentimental, or the object is magical.

Kaoru taps at the pearl. He doesn’t know a single thing about magic, but with such limited time, simple options are the best.

“Come on, work. Do something. Do _magic”,_ he mutters, hitting the pearl a bit harder. “You _have_ to be magic. Do _anything.”_

The pearl doesn’t react, so Kaoru gives up, sticks it into a pocket, and draws his sword. He’s not going down without a fight, no matter how dim his chances seem.

The guards hesitate, which is a bit strange, since there’s now twelve of them and only one of Kaoru. In fact, they all seem to be looking _past_ Kaoru and not at him. Is it a trick? To make him turn away and then take him by surprise? But with their numbers, that shouldn’t be necessary, so --

Kaoru spins around when he hears a distant sound, like wind, but strong, much too strong. Yet the loudness makes sense, because it’s made by --

Well, a sandstorm.

By all accounts, it shouldn’t make sense. The weather isn’t right, and this one is… approaching the palace with high speed, it seems. Almost like magic.

...Magic?

Not the magic Kaoru expected, but if this is what the pearl does, then he has to work it the best he can. But what kind of magic? Is it an attack? Is there a way to control it? Kaoru is between it and the guards, so should he -- get out of the way, or --

The sandstorm reaches them even faster than should be possible, and then Kaoru doesn’t need to figure out the magic anymore, because it works on _him_ instead, sweeps him away, pulls him up, and begins moving back to the direction it came from.

Well, that’s one way to escape from certain death.

 

* * *

 

Kaoru doesn’t _hate_ sand, but there’s a limit to everything, and travelling via a sandstorm is a sure way to get his mouth full of it.

He’s going to be finding it in his clothes for months, he thinks, gagging as he stands up from the ground. He’d better have ended up somewhere nice, to make up for --

Kaoru’s trail of thought cuts short when he takes a look at the scenery around him. Green, in incredibly vibrant shades -- and blue, glistening blue water. _Where_ did he end up at?

But -- it isn’t of importance right away, and Kaoru dusts off some sand from his clothes before walking towards the oasis. It really is a wonder, beautiful and lush -- surely, a place like this can’t be so peaceful? Wouldn’t _someone_ use it?

But upon further inspection, Kaoru doesn’t find anyone -- and furthermore, doesn’t even find _signs_ of people having been here. Then, this would be an ideal place to rest for some time, especially since he doesn’t know which direction to take from here.

First things first. Kaoru cleans his clothes of sand the best he can, takes a good drink of water, makes one more check in the area, just to make sure he’s really alone.

Then he sits down by the water with a sigh. It’s been a terribly long and eventful day, and now, Kaoru just wants to rest. He takes out the pearl, the treasure he was hired to steal. So it really _is_ magical, which explains the high price he was promised for it. And it’s…

“Huh?” Kaoru mutters. The pearl wasn’t this clear before, _definitely_ wasn’t. Kaoru remembers the way it looked on the roof, when he asked it to help him.

Ah well. It’s probably magic. Still, it’s a beautiful colour now, and Kaoru almost feels bad that he’ll have to part with it. Maybe --

“Is that ‘my’ pearl?”

So, Kaoru checked the whole perimeter, _twice._ No signs of people.

Yet now there’s someone speaking to him from the water, and really, Kaoru thinks, it’s only appropriate he screams. Embarrassing? Yes, but also -- fully understandable. _Really._

And then it gets even stranger. The person, now slowly rising from the water, _giggles,_ dreamy eyes fixed on Kaoru. It’s absurd enough to make Kaoru’s brain freeze, and suddenly, he goes incredibly quiet instead.

Kaoru keeps watching as the boy stands up in the water, still slowly, but in an oddly carefree manner. His hair is blue, in a way that reminds Kaoru of the ocean (he’s seen it once or twice). His eyes are green, like the grass around the water. And his smile is steady, almost soothing -- though currently, Kaoru feels anything but soothed.

“Um”, Kaoru begins. He knows he was asked a question, but he can’t collect his thoughts enough to answer. The boy is dressed in fine clothes, blue and pink, but when he stands up completely, it looks like the water drips off him without sticking to the clothes, though his hair remains soaked.

“Yes”, the boy nods, like Kaoru had asked a question in return and he knew what it meant. He shakes his hair a bit, and the water sparkles as it falls off in droplets.

“Yeah? Hi? Um, the -- the pearl?”

“Yes”, he nods again. “The ‘pearl’ you are holding.”

“Did you say it’s yours?” Kaoru frowns. “But…”

“From ‘here’”, the boy touches his stomach, where a belt is tied around his waist.

“So, was it… stolen?” Kaoru narrows his eyes. Is this the _original_ owner of the treasure? He figured the royal family wouldn’t always have had it.

“Mm… I do not ‘remember’.”

“And do you want it back?”

From this much conversation, Kaoru doesn’t know enough to make decisions, but he needs to know if this boy wants the pearl for himself. It _is_ something Kaoru should deliver to his client, and he doesn’t make a habit from keeping stolen treasures for himself -- the money he gets for them is enough.

“Oh”, he blinks, “there is ‘no’ need.”

“Really?” Kaoru asks, surprised. He’d have expected the owner of the pearl to want it back, because that’s how property usually works, especially when it wasn’t parted with willingly.

“Mm… it is the only way ‘people’ can ‘reach’ this place. I would get ‘lonely’ if I kept it.”

“Huh”, Kaoru mutters, taking another look at the pearl. It seems to grow ever clearer, now almost shining, and it reminds Kaoru of the shade of the oasis water, of this strange boy’s hair, of the blue in his clothes.

“This is my ‘home’, you see”, he continues explaining, “and I have not seen many ‘humans’ lately.”

Kaoru is taken aback, but only momentarily. Somehow -- that would make sense. That he’s not speaking with a human right now.

“So, you’re… let’s start from the beginning.” Kaoru sits back down, and gestures the boy to join him by patting at the sand beside him. “I’m Kaoru. What’s your name?”

“Name…? That would be ‘Kanata’.” He stares down at Kaoru’s hand, then slowly sits down where he is, still in the water.

“Nice to meet you, Kanata”, Kaoru lifts his hand from the sand and rubs at the back of his head. “So, you’re… not a human?”

“No. Humans always seem ‘interested’ in me not being one, though.”

“Well… you _look_ like a human, mostly.”

“And everyone who ‘looks’ like a human, ‘is’ a human?” Kanata tilts his head, eyes shining.

“Ah… Maybe not”, Kaoru laughs. “If you want to meet humans, why don’t you just go somewhere else? With people?”

“Oh, no”, Kanata’s laughter is airy, slow, almost like a melody. “If I ‘leave’ the ‘oasis’, I will ‘die’.”

“Die?!” Kaoru sputters. “That’s a little harsh…”

“Dry up. The ‘water’ keeps me ‘alive’.” Like to make his point, Kanata splashes at the surface, and it seems to sparkle even more than usual at his touch.

“And you only get visitors occasionally? Yeah, that does sound lonely…” Kaoru can’t imagine what it’s like, to be _completely_ alone, without human contact. Sure, he hasn’t had anyone close in years and years, but at least there’s _people_ all around him…

”Mmh… and not all are ’nice’.”

”What… what do you mean?” Why would anyone be mean to such a calming presence, even if he wasn’t human? He seems like he wouldn’t harm a fly.

”They want to ’use’ my ’magic’, of course.”

Magic?

Okay, well, a lot more things make sense if Kanata knows _magic._ And the whole thing shouldn’t surprise Kaoru, considering the pearl, considering the only way to get here to begin with is by magic.

”Why aren’t you worried about me, then?”

Kanata blinks, just looks at him for a while, and then bursts into giggles, the sound of them like bubbles on the water’s surface.

”Kaoru, you would not ’harm’ me.”

”But I’ve hurt people”, Kaoru insists. Does Kanata trust too easily? Can he tell apart harmless and dangerous people?

”I said, you would not harm ’me~e’.”

The last word is drawn out more than any other, so it should be the most important. And while Kanata is correct, Kaoru would never bring harm to such a cute sight — does he still trust too easy? The pearl had been in the royal collection for a while, but if someone else than Kaoru had got their hands on it —

”That bastard”, Kaoru mutters. Sending someone to steal a specific, magical artifact, must mean, that the buyer knows its worth, knows what to do with it.

Money or not, Kaoru is not handing it over to his employer, just so he could travel here and try to control Kanata’s powers.

”Kaoru, is ’something’ wrong…?”

”Yeah, I was thinking, would you mind if I stayed here for a few days?”

The way Kanata’s face lights up in joy tells Kaoru that no, he absolutely doesn’t mind.

Kaoru stands up and turns away. Then, he needs to prepare shelter for the night. The area seems to be properly shielded from the sun, but Kaoru needs something more than grass to lay on.

”Kaoru?”

”I need to make a bed”, Kaoru mutters. ”Let’s see, we’ve got leaves…”

Kanata giggles, as brightly as before, and Kaoru turns back around, dumbfounded. He doesn’t know if he can ever get used to such a beautiful sound.

”Silly Kaoru”, Kanata says between giggles, ”you can just ’sleep’ in the ’water’.”

”Wh-? No, no, no”, Kaoru shakes his head fervently. ”I’m human, I can’t just — _sleep_ in there.”

”But you ’can’”, Kanata insists, now a small pout on his face. ”Come on.”

He stands up and extends a hand, expecting Kaoru to take it, and if Kaoru had any sense, he would think this a trap and decline.

But, Kanata’s eyes sparkle, and Kaoru takes his hand.

As soon as their hands touch, a surge of warmth courses through Kaoru, and he shudders. It’s not unpleasant, however, so he steps into the water.

It feels odd, in many ways. The sensation of the water itself around Kaoru’s ankles is new and foreign, and somehow, he feels like there are extra layers to it. Still, there’s no reason to back away, especially when it seems some kind of a spell has already been put over him.

Sliding deeper, Kaoru realises what’s strange about the water. It doesn’t _feel_ like water. He glances at Kanata, who simply watches him back, the tiniest twinkle of amusement in his eyes.

”Um.” Kaoru swallows. ”What was that thing you did to me? With the hands?”

”Mm… it ’helps’ you sleep.”

”So this is… normal water, right?” Kaoru worriedly looks down at it. Prettier than normal water, but maybe that doesn’t tell much.

”What does ’normal’ water mean?” Kanata giggles. ”This is ’water’.”

”Right”, Kaoru mumbles. He slowly squats into the water, and that’s when the water turns _alive_.

Kaoru would yelp, but he feels oddly calm, even as the water moves and shifts, takes Kaoru and tilts him until he’s lying down. His head above the water, but the rest of him submerged, and — it still doesn’t feel like water.

Now it feels like a comfortable _blanket._

Kaoru can move his limbs, shift his position, roll on his side, but the water keeps him down. It really feels like a real bed now.

”’Good night’, Kaoru♪”, says Kanata sweetly, before walking further into the pond himself and disappearing under the surface.

”Um”, Kaoru mumbles. He’s being left very alone. ”Good night?”

For some reason, he feels entirely calm in his strange water bed.

 

* * *

 

Over the following week, Kaoru learns many things about Kanata. That the word people use is _witch,_ but Kanata doesn’t really understand what it means. That he hasn’t met anyone in _years,_ and subsequently, that he’s much older than he looks.

That he has this habit of casually touching people, without even realising he’s doing it.

That it flusters Kaoru, who isn’t quite used to such a thing, but doesn’t know how to act when touching him comes so naturally for Kanata.

That Kanata seems to be tired all the time, despite claiming that he doesn’t really need to sleep. That during the day, his eyes are droopy and all he wants to do is stay soaked and hum. That when the sunlight filters through the trees just right, his hair seems to glow, and each time, Kaoru is tempted to touch —

Right, and he also learns that the oasis has fish.

“I’m just saying, this pond is _tiny_. How can fish live here?”

“Easily”, Kanata claims. He’s playing with a seashell (how did a seashell end up here?), not looking at Kaoru.

“What do they eat?”

“Eat?” Kanata tilts his head, puzzled. “Is that what ‘you’ do with the ‘fruit’?”

Another strange thing, the fruit. Growing in the trees around the water. From the water? When Kaoru asked Kanata about them, he just shrugged and told Kaoru that the water makes the fruit grow.

Kaoru doesn’t know half of their names, but since he hasn’t been poisoned yet, he has deemed them all safe enough to eat. It’s not like there’s anything else, as Kaoru doesn’t dare to suggest that he could eat the fish. Kanata doesn’t eat the fruit; he doesn’t need to eat anything. Must be the whole _not human_ thing. And apparently the fish don’t need to eat either, which, well. Another part of whatever magic is at work here.

Kaoru doesn’t understand a lot of it, but he doesn’t really _need_ to understand to enjoy the leisure this oasis gives him… and the company of Kanata, of course.

“You are ‘funny’, Kaoru”, Kanata is halfway out of the water, upper body lying on the sand. “I ‘like’ that.”

“I’m the first human you’ve met in decades”, Kaoru reminds him. “Anyone would be funny.”

“No, the ‘others’ were not as funny as ‘you’.”

Can anyone blame Kaoru if his heart flutters a bit at that?

“Can I join you?” he asks.

“Of ‘course’”, Kanata replies. “The ‘water’ likes you.”

Huh. That’s a bit flattering, actually. Kaoru takes off his shoes and the top layers of his clothing. The rest will dry. Then he slips into the water.

The water is cool, even on a hot day like this, and Kaoru feels it move about his feet even after his own movements have ceased. Or maybe it’s the fish, nipping about at his legs?

Kanata scoots closer. He seems pleased whenever Kaoru is in contact with the water. Kaoru can’t help wonder if spending time in it is more intimate than it seems, since Kanata is the guardian of the oasis.

“Kaoru”, Kanata intertwines their hands under the surface. “If you ‘leave’, will you come ‘back’?”

“I promise”, Kaoru says without hesitation. He’s been thinking about it for two days now; that he can’t stay here forever. There are things he needs to do in the outside world, business to take care of, but he will return, he knows it.

After all, that’s what he’ll keep the pearl for.

“The ‘pearl’ could be ‘taken’”, Kanata mutters, lifting a hand from the water to trace at Kaoru’s cheek instead. “Some of ‘your’ kind can ‘track’ magic.”

“Oh”, Kaoru’s heart sinks.

“I ‘could’ place you under my ‘protection’”, Kanata suggests. “It is a ‘simple’ spell to perform.”

“What does it do?” Kaoru tenses instinctively. If a spell is laid upon him, he wants to know everything about it.

“It tells all the ‘other’ magic to stay ‘away’”, Kanata explains. “Then, ‘no one’ could track you or the pearl with ‘magic’.”

“Well, that would be perfect”, Kaoru laughs. “You could’ve suggested that right away.”

“It is simple to ‘cast’, but it is a ‘ceremony’. It ‘bonds’ us.” Kanata is watching him carefully now. “Eventually you could ‘find’ me ‘without’ the pearl.”

A magic bond? This is starting to sound more and more like a spirit marriage kind of thing, but surely, these doubts are unfounded? They just create a connection, and Kaoru is safe from other magic?

“Any downsides?” he asks lightly.

“We will be bonded ‘forever’.”

Huh. Well, spirit marriage is back on the table. The question is, does Kaoru mind? And the answer…

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

“Immediately?” Kanata tilts his head.

“Sure?”

“Then I will ‘kiss’ you now.”

“Kiss me”, Kaoru repeats. “The spell requires _kissing?”_

“Is that a ‘problem’?”

“Actually…” Kaoru hesitates, but only for a second. “It isn’t.”

“From now on, you will ‘always’ find me”, Kanata whispers, cupping Kaoru’s cheeks. “Even if we are ‘separated’, or ‘lost’.”

Kanata’s lips are cool and moist. He kisses Kaoru once, and when he pulls away, Kaoru feels a warm sensation around his mouth that slowly spreads through his whole body.

“And now… it’s done?” Kaoru feels out of breath.

“It will ‘grow’ stronger”, Kanata tilts his head. “But the ‘protection’ is on you now, yes.”

“And what would happen if we kissed again? Any magical effects?”

“It would ‘feel’ nice”, Kanata leans closer, gaze focused. “No ‘magic’.”

Kaoru lies down. Sand clings to the back of his shirt, his legs still in the water, and now he can definitely feel fish tickling at his toes.

“Would you, then? Please?” Kaoru asks, his own voice oddly vulnerable.

“Of course, ‘Kaoru’”, Kanata laughs, leaning down. “From now on, it will ‘always’ be a ‘yes’.”


End file.
